Impression ribbon and method of making same



19,- 1. w. PLOEGER, JR 3,461,998

IMPRESSION RIBBON AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME File d Jan. 24, 1967wvs/vron 52 5 4 WALTER P4 05am, JR.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,461,998 IMPRESSION RIBBON AND METHOD OFMAKING SAME Walter Ploeger, Jr., North Bellmore, N.Y., assignor toFilmon Process Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New YorkFiled Jan. 24, 1967, Ser. No. 611,460 Int. Cl. B411 31/04 U.S. Cl.197172 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method of making amulti-layer impression ribbon is provided wherein a layer of fabrichaving a transfer medium thereon is joined to a superimposed layer ofink impervious film only along one edge so that the layers mayindependently expand or contract in width.

The present invention is directed to an improvement over my priorinvention described in U.S. Patent 3,273,- 686. The present invention isdirected to a method of making a multi-layer impression ribbon of thetype disclosed in said patent but wherein the fabric and film layers mayindependently expand or contract in width. Such expansion or contractionwill take place as a result of heat, atmospheric conditions such asrelative humidity, etc. The film which overlies the fabric layerprotects the fabric layer from contact with the keys of oflice machinerysuch as a typewriter.

Constant pounding of the protective film layer by the keys of atypewriter tend to make the film thinner and therefore wider. There is aendency of the film to pucker or wrinkle when both longitudinal sideedges of the film and fabric are joined together. The present inventionis directed to a method of making the multi-layer impression ribbon in amanner so as to reduce the tendency of the film to pucker. At the sametime, the thickness along one edge of the multi-layer impression ribbonis reduced by the thickness of the fabric so that this edge may be morereadily fed through guides of the oflice machine.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of making amulti-layer impression ribbon.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an impressionribbon wherein various layers thereof may independently expand orcontract in width.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in thedrawing a form which is presently preferred.

FIGURE 1 is a partial perspective View of the impression ribbon producedby the method of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a schematic elevation view of apparatus for making theimpression ribbon of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 in FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein like numerals indicate likeelements, there is shown in FIG- URE 1 an impression ribbon designatedgenerally as 10. An impression ribbon in accordance with the presentinvention may be of a width suitable for use in typewriters or may be ina greater width suitable for use in other office machinery such astabulators, computers, etc. wherein an impression ribbon is utilized.

The impression ribbon may be an elongated member having a length ofapproximately ten yards with its ends wound on spools. Alternatively,the impression ribbon may be in the form of an endless loop. Impressionribbon 10 includes a first layer 12 adapted to have a transfer 3,461,998Patented Aug. 19, 1969 ICC medium thereon. Layer 12 may be a layer ofnylon, Dacron, or other similar fabric and the transfer medium thereonmay be any formulation of ink. The thickness of layer 12 is .004 inch.This thickness may be slightly greater or lesser as desired.

Layer 12 is superimposed over a second layer 14. Layer 14 is a layer ofpolymeric material which is ink impervious, flexible, pliable and heatsealable. Layer 14 may be made of nylon, polyethylene, Mylar, etc. Layer14 has a thickness of between .0005 and .001 inch. In ribbon 10, layer14 has a width which is greater than the width of layer 12 by a distanceof between .03 and .18 inch. I prefer to have this difference in widthat the smaller end of the range, namely about .03 inch since the widerlayer 12 is, the more ink it will hold.

The layers 12 and 14 are joined together only along the extreme sideedge 16 by a fused welded joint. A third layer 20 overlies alongitudinal half of the ribbon 10 remote from the edge 16. Layer 20 ispreferably made from the same material as layer 14. A fourth layer 22overlies the third layer 20. Layer 22 is narrower than layer 20 so as toprovide an exposed edge portion 24 on the layer 20. Layer 22 has atransfer medium thereon which is preferably different from the transfermedium on layer 12. Thus, the respective transfer mediums may differ incolor, composition, formulation, etc. In a simple form of ribbon 10, thetransfer medium on layer 12 may be black ink and the transfer medium onlayer 22 may be red ink. In another simple form of the ribbon 10, thetransfer medium on layer 22 may be a camouflage material such as a tackymixture of a finely divided powdered pigment such as titanium oxide witha binder and carrier such as partly polymerized natural oils, waxes, orthe like. Such camouflage materials are well known to those skilled inthe art. When the transfer medium on layer 22 is a camouflage material,the transfer medium on layer 12 may be any color ink.

The layers 14, 20 and 22 are connected together by a fused welded jointalong edge 26. Edge 26 is spaced from edge 18 on the layer 12. Edge 18is not physically connected to any of the layers of the ribbon 10. Inthis manner, the layer 12 may expand due to environmental conditionsinto the gap 25 between the welded joint along edge 26 and the edge 18.

The film 14 is wound on a spool 28. The layer 12 is wound on spool 30. Alayer 12', identical with layer 12, is wound on a spool 32. Spools 30and 32 may be disposed on a common shaft and spaced from one another bya gap. The layer 20 is wound on spool 34. The layer 22 is wound on spool36. The various layers are unwound from the spools and fed through driverollers 38 and 40 with the layers superimposed over one another as shownmore clearly in FIGURE 3. For purposes of illustration, FIGURE 3illustrates the layers in relationships involved in producing two ormore of the ribbons 10 simultaneously. It will be noted that the widthof layer 14 is greater than the combined widths of layers 12 and 12'.Thus, layers 12 and 12' are separated from one another by a gap 39.Layers 20 and 22 are centrally disposed with respect to the gap 39. Thewidth of gap 39 is twice the intended width of gap 25.

The layers of material as described above and illustrated in FIGURE 3are fed by the rollers 38 and 40 beneath a shaft 42. On shaft 42, thereis provided three heated cutter knives 44, 46, and 48. The knives aredriven by the shaft 42 and are circular in periphery. The distancebetween the side faces of any two adjacent knives corresponds to thewidth of the ribbon 10.

An anvil 52 is provided on shaft 50 beneath the knife 44. Anvil 54 isprovided on shaft 50 below knife 46. Anvil 56 is provided on shaft 50below knife 48. It will be noted that knife 46 is orientated so that itwill cut through the center of the gap 39. When making the ribbons twoat a time, the width of the layers 12, 12 and 14 may be greater thanthat occurring in the ribbon 10. Thus, any waste 58- or 60 occurringalong the side edges may be discarded.

As referred to above, FIGURE 4 illustrates the production of twoidentical ribbons which are designated as 10 and 10'. Knife 44 providesthe welded joint along the edge 16 while cutting through the layers 12and 14. Knife 48 provides a similar welded edge. Knife 46 cuts throughthe layers 14, 20 and 22 at the gap 39 and provides a welded joint alongthe edge 26 of ribbon 10 and a similar edge on the ribbon 10'. Since thelayers 12 and 12' are spaced from one another by way of the gap 39, thecutting and sealing action of knife 46 has no effect on the layers 12and 12'. Thus, layer 12 of the ribbon 101s joined to only one of thelayers, namely layer 14 at the edge 16. In this manner, the layer 12 mayindependently expand or contract. Also, the layer 14 may expand orcontract due to atmospheric conditions or the pounding effect of thekeys of the oflice equipment. Thus, it will be noted that layers 12 and14 are of different materials and react differently to environmentalconditions as well as the fact that layer 14 will be subjected to forceswhich cause its width to change at a rate different from forces actingupon layer 12.

Thus, it will be seen that the method of making a multilayer impressionribbon of the present invention is applicable to making ribbons one at atime or producing a plurality of ribbons simultaneously. The method ofthe present invention includes superimposing a first layer of flexiblefabric such as nylon capable of having a transfer medium applied theretosuch as ink over a second layer of ink impervious film in a manner sothat the width of the film is greater than the width of the first layer.Thereafter, a third layer of ink impervious film is superimposed over alongitudinal half of the first layer and a fourth layer is superimposedover the third layer in a manner so as to provide an exposed edgeportion on the third layer. Thereafter, sequentially or simultaneously,the first and second layers are welded to form a sealed fused jointalong one side edge of the ribbon and a sealed fused joint is providedalong the other side of the ribbon. The last-mentioned joint joins thesecond, third and fourth layers so as to provide a joint spaced from afree edge on the first layer. The free edge on the first layer isunattached so that the width of the layers may independently expand orcontract.

For economic reasons, it is more practical to produce a plurality of theribbons simultaneously as opposed to making the ribbons one at a time.The layer 12, and also layer 12', are preferably inked before they aremounted on spools 30 and 32. However, since edge 18 is not joined to anyof the layers, ribbon 12 could be inked after the ribbon 10 has beenmanufactured. It is preferred to ink the layer 12 and layer 12' beforethey are unwound from their spools by the drive rollers 38 and 40'. Theexposed edge portion 24 acts as a barrier to prevent the transfer mediumon layer 12 from contaminating the transfer medium on layer 22 and viceversa.

If desired, layer 22 may be eliminated so as to provide a novel ribbonhaving only one transfer medium. This will provide a ribbon wherein atypewriter key striking layer 14 opposite layer 20 will cause theimpression to appear only on carbon copies but not on the original. Thiswill permit a typist to type information which appears only on filecopies with minimum effort such as pushing the key to shift the ribbonupwardly as is normally done with a two-color ribbon. In this manner,the file copies will not have to be separated and then separatelyprocessed through the typewriter so that the information desired couldbe typed thereon. Except for elimination of layer 22, all other stepswould be performed as set forth above.

I claim:

1. A method of making an impression ribbon comprising superimposing afirst layer of inkable nylon fabric over a second layer of inkimpervious nylon film with the second layer being wider than the firstlayer, superimposing a third layer of ink impervious film substantiallynarrower than the first and second layers over a longitudinal half ofsaid first layer so that the third layer projects beyond the adjacentside edge of the first layer, welding only the first and second layersto form a sealed joint along one side edge of the ribbon, welding thesecond layer to the third layer to form a sealed joint only along theother side edge of the ribbon, to thereby form a ribbon with the firstlayer being attached only to said second layer at the one side edgewhereby the width of the layers may independently expand or contract.

2. A method of making an impression ribbon comprising superimposing afirst layer of inkable fabric over a second layer of ink impervious filmwith the second layer being wider than the first layer, superimposing athird layer of ink impervious film narrower than the first and secondlayers over a longitudinal half of said first layer, superimposing afourth layer having a transfer medium thereon over the third layer in amanner so as to expose an edge portion of the third layer, welding onlythe first and second layers to form a sealed joint only along one sideedge of the ribbon, welding the second layer only to the third andfourth layers to form a sealed joint along the other side edge of theribbon, to thereby form a ribbon with the first layer being attachedonly to said second layer at the one side edge whereby the width of thelayers may independently expand or contract.

3. A method in accordance with claim 2 for making a plurality ofimpression ribbons simultaneously wherein said step of superimposing afirst layer over a second layer includes superimposing a pair of firstlayers over the second layer with the pair of first layers spaced fromone another so as to provide a gap therebetween, said third and fourthlayers being superimposed over the gap so as to be centrally orientatedtherewith, and the last-mentioned joint being formed by a hot knifepassing through the gap.

4. A method in accordance with claim 3 including the step of inking thelayers of fabric before the layers of fabric are superimposed over thesecond layer.

5. A method in accordance with claim 3 including the step of spacing thepair of first layers from one another so that said gap is between .06and .36 inch.

6. An impression ribbon comprising first and second layers joinedtogether only along one longitudinal side edge by a weld, said firstlayer being an inkable fabric, said second layer being an ink imperviousflexible plastic, said second layer being wider than the first layerwith its other longitudinal edge projecting beyond the otherlongitudinal edge of the first layer by a distance of at least .03 inch,a third layer overlying the longitudinal half of said first layer remotefrom said weld and projecting beyond said other edge of said firstlayer, said third layer being an ink impervious flexible plastic, saidsecond and third layers being connected to each other by a weld parallelto and spaced from said other edge of said first layer whereby the widthof said layers may independently expand or contract.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,790,118 1/1931 Stein 156--2512,805,183 9/1957 Higgins l56-202 X 3,185,552 5/1965 Berry 26416O X3,273,686 9/1966 Ploeger l97l72 3,274,039 9/1966 Ploeger l97l72 XFOREIGN PATENTS 961,108 6/1964 Great Britain.

ERNEST T. WRIGHT, In, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 156251; 197181

